About Vocations

Formation and Education

How to form our vocations

We can forget that formation is necessary if we are truly to live out our lives and vocation to the full. Formation can be divided into several areas: Human, Spiritual, Professional, Apostolic and Doctrinal all of which are necessary if we are to be disciples and communicators of the Faith we ourselves have received.

HUMAN – God’s Grace does not suppress our human nature, rather Grace improves and enhances our humanity. We need to keep on developing our human nature if are to fully cooperate with God’s Grace in our lives.

SPIRITUAL – alongside developing our human nature we need to develop our spiritual lives. We do this through developing the supernatural virtues infused in us by God at Baptism. The theological virtues of: Faith, Hope and Charity and the Cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance all of which are given by God but need to be developed and practised. Overall these we need to practice the virtue of humility which enhances and perfects the virtues. Development of our spiritual lives is obtained through prayer, spiritual reading, and the reception of the sacraments. Both spiritual and human formation are interrelated.

PROFESSIONAL – a large part of a lay person’s life is spent in the workplace. Work is an integral part of the lay vocation, as our work is our contribution and service to society, and therefore to God. If we are to be examples of Christian Faith and to attain holiness then it requires sanctification of all aspects of our lives, including work. (“Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men” Col 3:22)

We need formation to be best we can be, whether an employer or employee, involving responsibility, thoroughness and excellence which needs formation in the form of professional development and training.

APOSTOLIC– All Christians are called to be apostles, taking the faith we have received and sharing it with others. In order to do this effectively sometimes we need to think about and learn the most effective way to share our faith.

DOCTRINAL– We all need doctrinal formation in order to articulate and give a good account of our faith. Doctrinal formation keeps us true to the Faith in all its richness and fullness, so that when we transmit the content of the Faith, we do so in the knowledge that what we share is faithful to the teaching of Christ and his Church.

Formation for many lay people comes through the days and courses run in the local parish setting and by the Department for New Evangelization and Formation.